Through the Looking Glass
by LunarArtist17
Summary: It has been years since I took care of an injured Hiei. ... I'll never forget that Hiei saved my life; oh, how I wished I could thank him for that! Maybe that's why I moved to Japan with my brother, Micky. {Sequel to Taking Care of You / Set in our world}


**Author's notes**: Hi everyone! So this story is actually a rebooted sequel to a fanfic I wrote fifteen years ago called "Taking Care of You" under my old screen-name, Nijuukyuu. It was a self-insert fic inspired by a contest where you take care of your favourite YYH character - mine being Hiei at the time. It didn't really have romance in it until the ending, though. This story will have more romance, but it isn't going to be Hiei that I'm pairing myself with, since Hiei has Mukuro in this. Please be gentle with me, I've had rough experiences in the YYH fandom, and it's taken me a lot of thought and consideration to share this new story with everyone. Thankyou!

* * *

It has been years since I took care of an injured Hiei. These days he was little more than a memory. I kept my secret, sharing it only with my brothers Micky and Robert, about how Hiei had come to the house wounded one rainy morning, and I somehow managed to take care of him in my room for several weeks without the rest of our family finding out, as incredible as that was.

I was in therapy now for PTSD, among other issues I won't go into {I had a rough childhood, okay?}, as I still had nightmares of the hellish battle between Hiei and the demon swordsman who abducted me - I'll never forget that Hiei saved my life; oh, how I wished I could thank him for that!

Maybe that's why I moved to Japan with my brother, Micky.

When asked, I always said it was my love for gothic rock band, BUCK-TICK {and dreamy guitarist, Hidehiko Hoshino}, which Micky had introduced me to a few years ago. But who knows, maybe deep down I wanted to be closer to Hiei, even if he might've been a figment of my imagination. In a way, I guess I was looking for Hiei after all these years, to make sure he was real.

MIcky and I both worked part-time as teacher's assistants in English classes for the Japanese, while I also worked another part-time job at a café where I was a cross-dresser. I had fun with it - I didn't identify as entirely female anymore, so it felt liberating to dress as a guy every other day. I even had Micky cut and bleach my hair, he was the one me and Robert turned to when it came to our hair.

Today was another usual day of café life, I'd read The Sandman by Neil Gaiman on breaks, and flirted with girls - it was in character for me to do so, but I also admit that I've liked girls better than boys when it came to romance, although I did have a long distance boyfriend. I have always been a bisexual genderfluid tomboy, I guess!

I finished up my break, and went back on the floor where I noticed an older man waving at me. He must've been ready to order, I figured as I walked over to him, and gave him my best smile.

"Hello, sir. How are you today?" I asked politely.

"Good, good. And yourself?" He responded; he was handsome with slicked back black hair with green highlights. He really looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. It was probably an Asian actor that was coming to mind, but I pushed the thought aside as I had a job here.

"I'm well, thankyou. Oh!" I noticed the coats hung over the chairs next to him. "Are you waiting for your company to come back?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to get us a waiter in the meantime." He said with a friendly grin, and seemed to be checking me out. I felt self-conscious for a moment, but then reminded myself that being a cross-dresser drew attention. "Is it hard to get in character?" He asked.

"Oh, no, it's fairly easy." I replied, feeling a blush creep up on my face, as I nervously giggled. "I enjoy it, really." It was true, I slipped into this position with ease, and it was truly liberating to be able to express myself in such a creative way. It must also be why I loved cosplay, having actually cut and bleached my hair blonde for my cosplay of Yuri Plisetsky from Yuri on Ice.

"Oh, are these your fri..." I started to ask as three males approached the table, my mouth dropped at the sight of them - I quickly looked back at the first male realising that he was Yusuke Urameshi, that's why he looked familiar! And the other three were Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei!

"Yep. So, what are we gonna order, guys?" Yusuke asked taking charge as he was probably used to doing; he was their leader after all. Kuwabara sat next to Yusuke, while Kurama and Hiei sat across from them - Hiei in the corner almost behind Kurama.

"Hey, you okay?" Yusuke asked, as I stared at them blankly. I realised my mouth was still hanging open, as I blushed furiously, and swallowed, nodding nervously.

"Y-Yeah, I'm. . . I'm fine." I muttered, trying hard not to stare at the fictional characters in front of me.

Were they cosplayers?

No, I definitely recognised Hiei's aura from the first time we met - I forgot to mention, I'm a Highly Sensitive Person, and Empath, which means I'm intuitive and in touch with others' emotions, which also probably helped quite a bit in the past when I took care of Hiei, who I still couldn't believe was right in front of me.

Would he recognise me?

He seemed to be in his own little world.

But then again, I sported an androgynous appearance now - when I was fifteen, I had had long brunette hair, and hadn't discovered chest-binding yet.

"Do I know you?" Kuwabara asked all of a sudden.

I stared dumbfounded at him.

"Um, no? I don't think so?" I murmured, I felt confused as to why he'd say that.

"Oh, wait, I know where I recognise you from! You're the teacher's assistant at my English class!" Kuwabara exclaimed, with a look of satisfaction that he figured it out.

"Oh..." That was a plot twist I wasn't expecting - he did look familiar, but that was kinda obvious, given who he was. The only difference was his hair was darker, it wasn't orangey at all. I guess he outgrew dying his hair. I wondered how old they were now?

"Oh, yeah." I blushed, nervous at their attention on me. "I work there with my brother, Micky." I added, and let out an insecure laugh, "I guess that's why you look familiar to me, too! Hehe."

"It must be nice to work with family." Kurama said, his elbows were on the table, and he had his chin rested on his hands. His expression was gentle, and I blushed a little at how gorgeous he was. I never noticed Kurama when I used to watch Yu Yu Hakusho, but in person, he was as beautiful as a rock star, or male model.

"It is!" I replied, as I felt a little more at ease. Must be the thought of Micky - actually, Kurama's brotherly tone reminded me of Micky, and probably helped put me at ease. "Oh, right! What would you guys like to order?"

I went through writing down each of their orders, and debated with myself whether or not I should say something to Hiei, but from what I remembered of his character, it would probably upset him in front of his comrades. I wasn't sure they even knew about me, why would he tell them? I only told Micky and Robert after I realised I couldn't keep the secret to myself.

"And what would you like?" I motioned to Hiei, who had been glaring off to the side the whole time, and wasn't even paying attention to me. That hurt a little now that I thought about it, but that was typical of him; he's anti-social as it were.

"Hiei?" Kurama said his name as he turned his head slightly yet never took his eyes off of me as if anticipating my response. . . why would he do that? Did he know about me?

Hiei turned and grumbled something to which Kurama grinned.

"He'll have the steak, thankyou." Kurama said, as if translating Hiei's snark into English so I could understand it. Oh, wait. . . Maybe Hiei still didn't know English.

Everyone went back and forth from Japanese and English here in the café that it was hardly noticable to me. I wouldn't say I was very good with Japanese - yet, but orders were usually simple enough to understand. When I took care of Hiei years ago, I had taught myself crappy basic Japanese from the internet to communicate with him.

"O-okay, thankyou." I felt my face turn red as I realised I repeated Kurama, who simply grinned in response, as I turned around, wishing I could die on the spot. Why was I so socially awkward? Shouldn't the familiarity of fictional characters make it easier to cope?

I relayed their orders to the kitchen, and stepped into the backroom as I debated whether or not to text Micky. I decided to shoot him a short text telling him that I had to talk to him later; I wanted to tell him in person. I waited impatiently for the chance to jump on taking their order out to them, and realised I shoulda been waiting on other tables, but it looked like the other girls had it covered out there, so I was okay, I think.

By the time I got back to their table, they were deep in a conversation as they exchanged Japanese. I could understand some of it, but not enough to follow. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, though; I was just there to hand them their food and drinks, after all.

"Here you are. Is there anything else I can get you guys?" I asked, looking between the four. I felt on edge now, wishing I could say something to Hiei. What should I do about him? Should I follow him? But I wasn't off work til later. Maybe I should just say something, and risk embarrassing him, or worse, angering him. When would I get this opportunity again, anyway?

"No, we're good, thanks." Yusuke said, as he started to wolf down his food. Wow, he must've been hungry, I felt amused at the sight. I looked to the others, being Kuwabara and Kurama, who politely said they were also good.

"What about Hiei?" I asked Kurama, as I realised Hiei wouldn't even look at me. Was he really that socially awkward with humans? Or just that anti-social. . . probably the latter; I was the socially awkward one, and probably projected that onto him right now.

"Hiei?" Kurama turned to Hiei, who grunted in response. They exchanged a few low words in Japanese that I couldn't catch, as Kurama turned back to me. "He's good, too. Thankyou."

"O-okay." I murmured, I felt frustatrated that Hiei wouldn't acknowledge me, but whatever. I was going to get his attention one way or another. "Actually, hold on." I said as an idea came to me. I held up my notepad with pen in hand, and jotted down basic Japanese as I folded the note, and held it out. "For Hiei."

"Oh, what's this?" Kurama grinned, he was clearly amused, and I blushed furiously as he probably thought I had a crush on his friend! Yeah, I had had a crush on the fire youkai years ago, but I outgrew that! Sheesh, I had a boyfriend now.

"Hiei, for you." Kurama nudged the smaller male, who glared at me as he took the piece of paper. He spoke rough Japanese, but I could understand enough of it to know that he was demanding to know why he should take this?

"You'll see." I replied, I had written down my name, and asked him to meet me after work. Hiei glared at me, and opened the paper to quickly scan it. His mouth parted slightly, as he raised an eyebrow and looked up at me.

"Sha?" Hiei said my name outloud, as I nodded.

"Mmhmm!" Maybe he did remember me! I felt excited, and wanted to giggle, but held it back as I didn't want to make it obvious I knew him.

"I don't need this." Hiei growled, as he crumbled up the paper into a ball, and tossed it where Kurama caught it; the fox gave Hiei a look of disapproval. But Hiei didn't care, he just crossed his arms, and glared off to the wall again. Gee, he coulda at least touched his food.

"I'm sorry about this. Hiei isn't used to admirers." Kurama handed the crumbled up paper to me, as I felt my heart sink, and felt a mixture of being on the verge of tears, or that I was about to yell at Hiei for his attitude, just like the old days when we couldn't stand each other at first.

"Yeah, no. Actually I know Hiei. He's a friend." I decided to just be blunt; he embarrassed me, so how much worse could this be? Yusuke and Kuwabara, who had been watching in disbelief, both look shocked. Kurama eyed me a moment, before turning to Hiei, and relayed what I said to him. Hiei grunted, and didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't want anything to do with me?

Kurama turned back to me, and raised his eyebrows as he shrugged. I must've looked let down, since Kurama reached one hand out to touch my elbow, as he asked me how did I know Hiei?

"Never mind..." I murmured, trying hard to fight back tears, as I patted Kurama's hand on my elbow, and pushed him away as I turned away from them. I guess I would have to follow them, and see if I could get Hiei alone. Well, not that it'd be a bad thing if Kurama were there; Hiei might actually listen if Kurama was there, maybe.

* * *

Well, I would've followed them if I had gotten the chance, but when I came back out to the floor after an hour or so of being stuck in the kitchen, they had already left. My heart sank. Should I even be hopeful that Hiei would show up after work? I forgot to write down when I got off work, darn it!

"Hey, Micky got back to me." I murmured, as I checked my cellphone. Micky wrote that he would pick me up from work. I sighed in relief as that actually made me feel a lot better. I could always count on Micky, even when others let me down. I still couldn't believe how cold Hiei was! But then again, what was I expecting? We hadn't seen one another in years.

By the time I clocked out, the sun was setting. I grabbed my coat, and checked my cellphone again. Micky had text that he was fifteen minutes away. Normally I'd sit inside the café and wait, but felt as though I needed fresh air, so I stepped outside. It was a quiet evening, a few college students walked by as I rested back against the wall next to the café's entrance. I was lost in thought as I scrolled on my phone that I didn't even notice a shadow approaching me.

* * *

**Author's notes**: What do you think, guys? Should this be Hiei, or trouble approaching? Find out next time!


End file.
